We can choose to anticipate and embrace changes or resist them. When things change, people are afraid they will no longer be experts. They will have to learn the new way, and no one wants to be a continuous senior beginner. Our studies show that to make change work, we have to prove to our key people that the change means getting better (or at least equal) results than the old way, assure them that their experience has value, and then get them to spread that message through the organization. (change management article - managing what employees say)
When you tell someone you know exactly how they feel, you rob them of their uniqueness. Our three-year study of top communicators showed that when someone tells you their core issues and you say, “we had a situation exactly like that last month, and as a matter fact the guy looked just like you, and this is what we did,” you create your own resistance. They will then try to show you how their problems are special and need more of your attention. However, if you acknowledge the difficulty of their problem and then share your experience in similar situations (the key word being similar), they are more likely to use your solutions.
The manager as a change advocate
When managers and front line supervisors communicate well with employees, understanding their fears and misgivings, they can find ways to not only help employees through the transition, but to involve employees in the change process thereby building ownership for the change and increasing accountability
Change management commandment: Send a clear and united message
Research shows that executive involvement is the greatest contributor to change management success..If people don't know "what" the change is and "why" it's being implemented, then "how" to implement the change is a mute point. Change leaders must show alignment with senior management's business objectives. and back up words with behaviors and actions that support change.
Managing the Journey: A formal communication plan for change
It is important for executives to communicate a structured change process showing where we the company is going, how they are going to get there and what results they expect at the end.
Managing resistance to change (tactics for systematically managing resistance)
The eight most common beliefs and reasons that people resist change
1. There isn't any real need for the change
2. The change is going to make it harder for them to meet their needs
3. The risks seem to outweigh the benefits
4. They don't think they have the ability to make the change
5. They believe the change will fail
6. Change process is being handled improperly by management
7. The change is inconsistent with their values
8. They believe those responsible for the change can't be trusted
Making change work: The flywheel effect
Doing more with less: Increase productivity
People want to have more organized communication systems and be on the same page with how they are communicating. Change management requires learning the best form of communication for change related issues. For example: when to use email, when to use voice mail, when to have face-to-face meetings and when upper level management needs to show up and be heard.
Organizational Change Management
The toughest challenge of organizational leaders today is to manage at the speed of change. With the pace of technological advancement and the knowledge explosion, leaders face tremendous pressure as they attempt to gain support for change. While resistance is always a problem, it is especially harmful during an economic slowdown. Regardless of how good or necessary a change may be, resistance should be expected.
The fewer moving parts something has, the less likely it is to break down. Before you decide that everyone has to become more organized, you might want to simplify the system as much as possible. After you have done all you can, providing training that begins with clearly defined outcomes and includes hands-on experiential learning techniques can have maximum impact on your organization's belief systems.
Founded by Bill Stewart, PMO pioneer and program and portfolio thought leader, we are the leader in experiential based project management and leadership training and services. Our mission is to help corporations rapidly move to a culture of strategic planning and execution excellence. We accomplish this mission by providing a wide range of practical and proven products, services and training programs, delivered by experienced and talented professionals.
We believe that project management theory and tools are only a small part of the equation for success. The real key is your ability as a leader to work with and through people. Our experiential based project management and leadership training and certification programs are proven to rapidly mature the skills of our graduates and provide an immediate return on training investment. Coupled with our over 20 years of successful implementation of program offices and program and portfolio management, we have the ability to help corporations rapidly achieve execution excellence.
Certified Project Manager (CPM) Boot Camp
Program & Portfolio Management (PPMC)Certification
Onsite Project Management and Turnkey PMO
Onsite Project Managers
Employee Training in Today’s Workplace
Is your organization grappling with a constantly changing marketplace and internal reorganizations? As a training and development professional, are you increasingly expected to deliver real organizational benefits from your employee training programs within shorter time frames and often with smaller training budgets? How are you meeting this challenge?
Larger organizations are continuing to adopt ever more comprehensive enterprise-wide Learning Management Systems (LMS) to deliver, track and report training programs and expenditure. Small to medium-sized organizations on smaller budgets are also finding ways to identify, track and report employee skills. Our inexpensive employee training tracking software can help you meet your tight training budget whilst delivering up to the minute automated reports on all aspects of your workplace training.
Training Programs and Project Management
Also having an impact on the training industry is the increased attention being paid to the discipline of project management. “Projects” with unlimited budgets and never-ending timelines trying to satisfy fuzzy organizational objectives are becoming tolerated less and less in today’s business world. Hence, the demand for project management training has seen a dramatic rise in the last ten years. With this we have also seen an increased interest in project management tools and methodologies. Check out our project management software section for tools, templates and guides that can help your organization manage and deliver projects better.
How we manage training projects has also matured. As discretionary budgets have continued to shrink, rolling out expensive employee training programs to satisfy ad hoc requests from department managers with no clear organizational rationale is no longer a viable option. More training projects are now being run using an Instructional Systems Design (ISD) model.
Using such a model guarantees that the learning objectives of the training program tie in with a real organizational need. It also raises an organization’s confidence that the training program will be of high quality and satisfy the needs of all major stakeholders. Check out our guide on writing learning outcomes and our training projects template pack to help you deliver training projects more effectively.
Training Tools and Resources for Effective Training
Budget constraints and increased business competition have also led to a recent emphasis on the payback on training expenditure. Poor training needs analysis (TNA) and change management practices in the past have led to an extravagant wastage of training budgets, with experts estimating that only some 10 to 20 percent of training dollars spent leads to some organizational benefit.
Donald Kirkpatrick’s traditional four-level model remains as the most used model for evaluating the effectiveness of training. This, however, has been supplemented by Jack Phillips with a new fifth level, Return on Investment (ROI). Investigate our Training Evaluation Toolkit for a comprehensive guide and tools designed to help you evaluate the effectiveness of your training programs.
How much are you using the new performance consulting approach in improving the effectiveness of your training programs? With this approach, poor employee performance is diagnosed with an accurate and effective employee performance diagnostic tool before any action is taken.
Using a systems view, all workplace factors influencing employee performance are considered. The upshot is that training may not be the appropriate solution to a performance shortfall in every case. The eventual solution may be multifaceted, highlighting process deficiencies, irrelevant or inadequate rewards and recognition, ineffective goal setting, and so on.
Using this approach, training is no longer a naïve single-point solution, but is perhaps just one component of the final package. Check out our eBook, From Training to Enhanced Workplace Performance, for a practical guide and many customizable templates that you can use to improve the effectiveness of your training programs.
Training Systems Best Practice
Is your training management system becoming more effective and efficient in delivering organizational capability? Many training professionals have continued to move their organizations towards training best practice. Some do not know where to start.
Excellent human resource best practice models have been available for some time. Two prominent examples are the U.S. People Capability Maturity Model and the British Investors in People. As excellent as these models are, they are not specific to training systems. Our training best practice model, however, is specifically designed for training and development practitioners. Our Training Management Maturity Model features an evolutionary approach to achieving best practice. Coupled with an assessment, analysis and reporting tool, training managers are now able to take measured steps in improving the effectiveness of their training system.